10 New Facts About the Cyclist / Lorry Driver Saga Now That Both Are Arrested

Unless you’ve your Internet cut off for the last few days, you’d have heard of the altercation between a cyclist and a lorry driver.

A video that was originally posted on ROADS.sg has garnered more than 2.5 million views in two days and it’s for a good reason.

Now, for people who have just got back their internet, here’s a Copy & Paste recap from our previous article (and please remember to pay your bill) in a paragraph and three gifs:

Cyclist rode on the centre of a lane and lorry driver honked him twice. When the lorry driver tried to overtake, the cyclist smashed the lorry’s side mirror with his hand. Lorry then knocked down the cyclist who stood up immediately, though it’s not certain if the lorry driver had panicked and lost control or he did it deliberately.

With it being so viral, you can bet that reporters all over Singapore have been going all out to dig out more juicy details. In fact, the video has been going viral overseas, too: read on and you’ll be shocked at how people from other countries view this incident.

Here are ten new facts about this incident that might change how you view the saga altogether, depending on who you support (though I think it’s best not to support anyone until investigations are over).

Cyclist Didn’t Hit the Side Mirror; Instead, He Threw A Water Bottle at the Lorry

Now, on first glance, it does look like the cyclist hit the side mirror and it fell off from the impact. However, according to several reports, that might not be the case: instead, the cyclist threw his water bottle at the lorry.

If you’ll look closer at the video (or simply rewatch the .gif above), you’ll also notice that it’s a white object that drops to the ground. While it could have be a reflective side of the side mirror, throwing a water bottle seems more logical since hitting the side mirror would be painful for the cyclist; pretty sure he’s not prepared for that.

Also, once you see it, you can’t unsee it #justsaying

However, the lorry driver has said that he needed to change his side mirror—read on and you’ll wonder if it’s really a water bottle, the side mirror or something else.

New Video Emerged, Showing The Cyclist Losing His Cool

An aftermath of the incident was posted to ROADS.sg video, and it shows clearly that the cyclist wasn’t happy: as the lorry driver tried to film the cyclist, the cyclist violently snatched the phone and confronted the driver aggressively. You can view the video here, but all you need to see is this simple gif:

Both Parties Left The Place When the Authorities Arrived

Unlike other accidents whereby the police would be there to assist, the altercation didn’t seem to last long: when the authorities arrived, both of them have left the place.

The SCDF arrived first but the cyclist allegedly refused to be taken to the hospital. Reports later stated that he’s not injured.

Judging from the video, he’s one lucky dude.

Location & Time of Incident

The video was uploaded on Sunday (23 December 2018) morning, but the incident allegedly happened the day before, on 22 December 2018, at about 11:53 a.m. (that was when the police was alerted).

It occurred on Pasir Ris Drive 3, near the junction of Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Pasir Ris Rise.

If this road looks familiar, it’s because it’s pretty near Downtown East.

Now, with it being so near to Pasir Ris Park as well, you’d have thought that the cyclists could have cycled in the park.

Well, read on because it gets more…interesting.

There’s a Bicycle Track Alongside the Road

If you’re a cyclist, you’d have heard of the Park Connector Network (PCN) in Singapore.

Basically, it’s a path that connects parks and green spaces in Singapore, and these paths are meant for cycling (you can walk or run if you want to lah).

This is the full map of the paths (those coloured lines are Park Connectors…i.e. cycling paths):

And zoom in more, you’ll see this:

Yes, part of Pasir Ris Drive 3 has a park connector alongside it, and when the incident occurred, it occurred just beside a cycling path.

In other words, the cyclists had a choice of riding on the ark Connector Network, but they chose to ride on the road instead.

Identity of the Cyclist & Lorry Driver

The police have identified the cyclist as a 35-year-old, and the lorry driver as a 57-year-old.

Despite online probing, the identities of both parties, and their name, are not revealed, even when Lianhe Wanbao managed to speak to the lorry driver.

There has been speculations online about the identity of the cyclist, but let’s leave speculations to speculations first: because it might led to what happened in the next point.

Netizens CSI-ed a Wrong Person

You know the drill: when someone did something stupid and went viral, netizens would take leave / off / MC and spend every single second tracking that someone down—even if it’s not the correct person, because ego.

And just like any other saga, netizens wrongly accused an innocent party—so much so that after receiving numerous one-star reviews on the person’s company, the company has to issue a statement online:

And it got so bad, the innocent party has to make a police report because he allegedly received death threats.

The mob mentality in Singapore is really…toxic, to say the least.

Reactions from International Community

For a video to get over 2 million views, you can bet that it has gone global.

In a Reddit thread under the catorgery r/Whatcouldgowrong, a discussion forum on “The best place to learn what NOT to do”, redditors all over the world has made over 3.9K comments.

In Singapore, most people in Facebook condemn the cyclist, but the views internationally are rather mixed. While most disapproved the cyclist’s actions, they believe the driver should have stayed in control as well.

However, do note that in other countries, there might be more polite cyclists and also more errant drivers, so it really boils down to individual perspective.

Both the Cyclist & Driver Have Been Arrested

Just one day after the videos went viral, both the cyclist and driver have been arrested.

According to reports, both might allegedly be charged: the cyclist would be charged with rash riding and mischief, while the lorry driver might be charged with rash driving.

There is not much info pertaining to rash riding. However, for mischief, the punishment could be an imprisonment of up to one year and/or fine.

For reckless driving (we can’t be certain if it’s similar to rash driving, since we couldn’t find anything about “rash driving”), the lorry driver could face a imprisonment of up to 12 months and/or up to $5,000 fine if it is his first offence. If it is his second offence, his driving license might be revoked.

Lorry Driver Didn’t Know the Incident Has Gone Viral

In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, it’s revealed that the lorry driver had swerved left as he heard a sound and thought that he had hit the taxi on his right while he was trying to overtake the cyclist.

After the incident, he went to get a new side mirror for $15 and had only told his wife about the incident, unaware that millions of people have watched his lorry knocked down the cyclist.